Member Avatar for greasywog87

I would like to know why my freshly installed slipstreamed xp w/ service pack 2 takes so much time to load up when i turn the computer on.

Firstly, it comes up with this white loading bar which takes about 3/4 of a minute, then it comes up with the regular xp loading screen which takes another minute or so.

I've just formatted as well, and my computer has 1 gb of ram and a 1.7ghz processor. Every other time i formatted with service pack one saw very rapid boot ups, about 20 seconds - now its just unacceptably slow.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Catweazle

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A focused troubleshooting checklist for the slow boot after a slipstreamed XP+SP2 install (as reported by ). The slowdown is usually caused by a stalled driver/service, a disk/BIOS initialization delay, or a slipstreaming/driver mismatch — not a mysterious “SP2 virus.” ’s note about slipstreamed installs is relevant: re-testing with a non‑slipstreamed install is a good way to isolate that variable.

Start with quick, non‑destructive checks:

  • Boot to Safe Mode (press F8). If Safe Mode is much faster the problem is likely a driver or service.
  • Temporarily unplug network cable and nonessential USB devices and retry a normal boot to rule out network/device timeouts.

Capture what’s happening during boot:

  • Enable boot logging from the F8 menu (Enable Boot Logging). After a normal boot inspect the file:

    C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt

    Look for drivers that fail to load or any entries that stop progressing — the last few lines often point to the culprit.

Isolate services/startup items:

  • Run msconfig -> hide Microsoft services -> disable others, and disable nonessential Startup items. Reboot; if faster, re-enable groups to find the offending service. Caution: do not permanently disable Microsoft system services.

Check logs and disk health:

  • Open Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc) and review System log entries timestamped around boot for timeouts, driver errors, or disk errors.

  • Run a disk check from an elevated command prompt:

    chkdsk /r C:

BIOS and slipstream specifics:

  • Confirm BIOS boot order (HDD first), disable floppy/PXE boot, and enable Quick POST if available. Update BIOS only if the vendor recommends it for a known issue.
  • If slipstreaming is suspected, perform one controlled test: install plain XP, apply SP2 from Microsoft Update, and compare boot time. Also install the latest chipset/SATA drivers from the motherboard vendor.

Boot logs (ntbtlog.txt) plus System event entries usually reveal whether the delay is a driver, service or hardware-init issue.

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Member Avatar for Catweazle

Must be something to do with your system configuration. I've found that the Systems I have here with SP2 installed actually boot quicker than those without it.

Member Avatar for cargenius42

I know what you mean greasywog87. Have the same problem. I've heard really bad things about SP2 for XP. One of my relatives works at Boeing and she heard from some of the tech agents that XP's Service Pack 2 may even have glitches that could harm some system files and screw up your firewall. I suggest you don't install SP2 on any other XP OS until windows can fix this problem. Also, when windows comes out with a new Service Pack, DO NOT download it right away. Sometimes, such as SP2, they may come out with one that contains glitches, may work good for some people, and screw all the other people. So wait before installing a new service pack until windows can fix the little problems. ;)

Member Avatar for greasywog87

cargenius, i think u mean when microsoft fixes the problems, not windows. Anyway, generally system performance is faster, its just that it takes ages to boot.

My system configuration is as good as I can get. I don't know what else to do.

Member Avatar for Catweazle

I've come across a couple of other situations where people have experienced problems after preparing a slipstreamed installation of SP2. I've not come across such problems where the installation hasn't been slipstreamed.

Damned if I know just where problems might lie, though.

But there definitely is NOT an inherent problem in SP2 which leads to such problems as slow startup or the issues described by cargenious. What you CAN get are problems where software is installed which makes illegal calls and thus does not adhere to the standards checked for by SP2s security features. For such software exceptions need to be set to security restrictions for the programs which breach such standards, and that is a fault of the programs themselves, not of Windows ;)

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